San Diego

Even though it is 93º here in Yuma, I am going to say it feels good to be home from California. We had a safe trip there and back, but I have a little less hair from the frightening drive through the mountains. I only like to look at mountains, not climb them, drive in them or camp in them. Going through those mountains made me not only scared spitless but with all the rock I kept looking for a sign that read Bedrock city ahead. I never did see the Flintstones or the Rubbles either. 

The traffic in San Diego was a complete nightmare. My poor Mark had to navigate our one ton dually through bumper to bumper narrow roads at speeds that set me to real strong praying. But he handled it like a pro……on the outside. I’m sure on the inside he was seething.  There were times that some pretty strong seething managed to escape him. LOL  Not only was the traffic a nightmare but parking is at a premium and for a truck the size of ours, it is impossible to find. There is no way that I would ever live there. Not for any amount of money or threats.

The first day there we went to a beach and yes, I actually walked into the water up to my calves. Well it was the waves that touched my calves, not me walking in that deep.  The water was so cold that by the time we got back to the boardwalk, my toes were painfully cold. So neat to see the ocean, it was a breathtaking sight. A sight I never thought that I would ever see. But thanks to my dear husband, I got to see and enjoy the view.

As you read in Marks entry, we did go on a two hour cruise of the bay. Boats and ships, like mountains, are just something that I like to look at not partake in at all. But I did manage to get on it and grabbed the first chair and sat without moving. Everyone else hung on the sides looking at what I  could see just as well in my chair. hehehe The view from my chair or the side of the ship was amazing and I am glad I was drug on board.  I might add that I was happier to get off. A glass of beer helped me get through the last hour though. :)

The last day there we went to Balboa park. So much to see that we didn’t get to it all. We both were so tired from the stress of the traffic we were just worn out early in the day. The architecture was unbelievable and everyone was so friendly and helpful. Great  place to see and it was free, whereas most places of interest cost an arm and a leg.

The trip home was welcomed, we had enough of California to last us a lifetime.  The time has come for us to tie up loose ends, here in Yuma, so we can hit the road in 5 days.We are more than ready to move on and see some other places. But we had a great winter with no snow or frigid temperatures and plan to return to Yuma next fall.

The San Diego stress

Ok fellow campers here is the latest in our 5er Adventure coming to you straight from the golden state of California. Specifically San Diego California.

First we should report that the climate is great here if not just a little warm and there seems to always be a breeze coming from the west. The pacific ocean is awesome and walking the board walk was really cool for a fat old guy like me. Not to mention the eye candy here is so amazing.

Now before I get anyone's dander up I would like to clarify that I am talking about my wife Cindy who for some strange reason felt the need to go walking barefoot along the beach with the waves coming up to her calves. Keep in mind the water temp is only 55 deg. So yes surprise surprise her feet got cold.

We also went down to the docks after signing up online for a 2 hour cruise on the San Diego Bay. We had a great time going with friends that had come here a few days earlier. Which led to some great pics of the harbor and city sky scape as well as the very large military presence here  in the bay.

Having led up to this point I want to make it clear that this is definitely a military town, bay and surrounding area. The first half of the tour included us passing one military installment after another while the second half of our tour included passing land almost exclusively donated by the military to the city of San Diego.

So now for a few things I have noticed while here for a few days. Parking Sucks!!!!!!! There are many attractions one would love to go see but keep in mind Cindy and I are traveling in a One Ton Dually. There is no where including at the motel where we are staying  that has a parking space to fit this big boy. And the parking at all the interesting exhibits is even worse. Plus you only get a 2 or 3 hour spot that is 1/2 to 1 mile away from where you want to be and a $40 dollar fine if you're lucky and they don’t tow your vehicle away.

As you may have guessed the Traffic Sucks as well. Now call me a small town boy but I am telling you I have only seen 4 or 5 motorhomes and absolutely no 5er’s and hardly a single One Ton anywhere we have traveled, which has been every day. But there are thousands upon thousands of cars and light trucks.

So someone is going to say well then just take a cab. Let me report on the price of gas here today @ $3.89 a gallon and guess what that adds to the cost of a cab ride. Not to mention they are all busy as well helping the more affluent of means by taking them where every they want to go.

Six lanes of traffic one way so narrow (yes Barb thanks for the heads up) that at one point we actually hit someone's mirror on their truck with ours but it is going so fast no one stopped. 

All in all we have had a great time here but I have now come to the conclusion that we next will be traveling up thru Utah bypassing the California run I was contemplating. In hopes of experiencing a little less stress I hope. 

On another note it is now getting up to 90 deg in Yuma and so after we get an update done to the One Ton on Tuesday we will be pulling out and slowly mosey north to St. George.

P/S while at the dock waiting for the cruise ship to get ready for us to board I watched a couple of wild lobster chasing across the bottom and climbing the base of some concrete pillars. Way cool and one of them was huge.

Some notable take-aways from our trip to San Diego...

Panhandlers are a common site at most any site that draws people.

Homeless people are a common site as well. Usually hanging out in groups in locations where they can more easily single you out for a handout.

Repair Shops have gates or drapes across their repair stall instead of doors.

This includes at the big Dealerships as well.

While taking a shortcut past a do not enter sign we got a chance to see a huge lot just off the harbor that was full of imported vehicles from multiple manufacturers  that had just been unloaded off ships.

Also saw a group of vehicle from Hertz Rental that were in a large lot waiting for recall repairs.

So keep smiling and remember, It is Always an Adventure!

The time is drawing near........

Where has the time gone. In less than two weeks we will be on the road again. But looking at the upcoming temps we may leave this area sooner. Neither of us like the temps as they get too far over the 70’s and the mid 90’s are in the forecast for the next two weeks and beyond. Yes, it is time to hit the road again.

All but two of our friends have left the resort. It’s kind of feeling like summer camp as you say good bye to new friends that you have come close to over the last 4 months. Some we will meet with and see again next winter, God willing.

Lola is getting groomed today so she will be all set until we can go back to the best groomer in the country, Dana at Dana’s Dog Spa. Oh my goodness do we miss her and her wonderful grooming skills.

When leaving our hometown we also had to leave behind the wonderful employees of Cashwise Pharmacy. The Walgreens and the Walmarts are not as friendly, helpful or fun as the great people at Cashwise. We will be happy to see them again too. 

We are not sure when we will be back in Minnesota, but I’m sure we will be met with the hot weather that we don’t like.  We have no set date for our return. We are retired and our home is wherever we park it so we come and go as we please. The best part of coming back, even for a short time, will be catching up with our family and friends, whom we have missed dearly.

Prison was fun.....

 The guard tower was built on top of the water tower to keep the water clean and cooler.

Well, we all knew it would happen sooner or later…… but Prison was so fun

We went to the historical Yuma State Prison for a tour with a wonderful couple that we have as neighbors here at the park. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision and it worked out well. The weather was so perfect and our tour guide did a great job.

We were in awe of the view, we had when at the top of the hill, looking down on the area. And that was just from the parking lot. We entered through the gift shop where we were met with kindness from the staff. So much in that little area to look at and the prices weren’t highway robbery like some tourist places are. But then it was a prison so they really ought not rob anyone.

The very first inmates of the prison had to construct their own cell. Can you imagine building a concrete room for yourself with no window and only 6 by 10? Nope, no bathroom, just a chamber pot that is emptied just once a week. And a communal shower once a week as well. Although the showers weren’t as nice as the prisoners have now days. It was not the Ritz after all. Several attempts to break out of there were attempted but only one escaped never to be seen again. Bad behavior was met with being changed to a D-ring on the floor and your roommates were attached to you. No one wants to be changed up, let alone to someone that is mad at you for getting them chained up as well. Bad behavior was therefore a minimal concern for the guards. 

The wardens were called Superintendent’s and held with high respect. One  superintendent was held at knife point and defended by other inmates. He was stabbed in the neck and injured badly but lived for 13 years. After extreme suffering from increasing pain due to his injury, he committed suicide to escape the increasing unbearable pain.

The outside exercise area, was not as nice as it is for the prisoners now days either. There was nothing but bare ground. They had all things a lot worse than the inmates have it now. The inmates had to do the work of building anything that was needed. And the heat could and does reach as high as 120º. There was no air conditioning or heat.  But besides working they later also received schooling and had a library. No work was done on  Sunday, the day of rest. I really don’t see any inmates that are currently in prisons being able to withstand the hard rigorous work that the early prisoners had to endure. Perhaps the prisons wouldn’t be so full now if they had to work instead of being treated to so many luxuries.

                                             Lutes Casino

Before going to the prison we stopped at a place called the Lutes Casino, which isn’t a casino at all. At one time it was a huge pool hall and now is a greasy spoon eatery that has wonderful food and so much memorabilia all around, ceiling and walls. Outside we had to have our picture taken with our prison stripes to see how we would look should we fall onto the wrong side of the law. LOL As you can see Mark and Craig fit the attire well, but Sheralene and I didn’t like the horizontal stripes.

The power rebuild

So what’s been happing at the 5er?

Well we finally found out why our solar system has been so sporadic in operation. After the original install all seemed to work as expected until we boon docked in one of the lower 48 states on the way to AZ. At that time after traveling all day in bright sunny skies I was disappointed to find that my batteries were only about 3/4 charged. 

Once we got to our present location I have been working on a lot of other things getting the 5er updated and doing needed repairs “propane system comes to mind”. Well now that I have had some spare time and am still getting mixed results with the solar I meant to look closer into the issue.

So the other day after listening to my bride voice her opinion about the cost of electricity here at the RV Resort I started to switch the 5er over to straight solar when Poof, the hole system went down. Lost all power to everything. Now I can tell you this even during a bright sunny day in Yuma when the power goes out in the old 5er, things get earie quite quickly and the shadows set in. Wowwwwwwww!

Ok so I start to look at what might be the cause of our lack of power making the usual checks for voltage and fuse condition. Nothing! Power to the manual transfer switch I built? Nope! What the heck, checked at the shut off and still no 12 volt power. Not even any voltage coming from the solar panels, this is nuts!!!!

Now I check at the outside terminal of the battery bank box, this is virtually checking at the battery and still nothing but some residual voltage. So I remove the battery ventilation system and cover to the battery bank then after deciphering the wiring “first 6 volt in series and then 12 volt parallel” I begin testing voltage at each battery. Bang 6 plus volts at each battery leaving me only with the cabling to be tested. One less than slight pull on the positive cables revealed they were in fact intact but after reaching further down sparks started emitting from the negative cables.

Not that this is how you want to find a problem but at lease now I was getting somewhere. After removing the cabling from the hot side of the battery bank I could get a better view as to what was happening on the ground side of the system.

Well adding to an already long story I had the two main ground cables come loose at their main connection thru the battery bank container causing intermittent contact which eventually burned off the ends on both 6 gauge wires.

Replacing the cables and redoing the method of passage thru the battery bank container netted a vast improvement in solar output which solved my dilemma.

So moral of this story is “It’s always an adventure”

Mark      

Breezy situation

Another project has been completed. After we purchased our new home Mark has talked about putting in a “Fan-tastic Fan” in the kitchen, replacing the regular ceiling vent. We found one at a good price on my favorite shopping place, amazon.com, and ordered one.

Upon receiving the new vent fan Mark needed to remove the old ceiling vent. That proved to be easier and less messy than we had thought it would.  Once the old was out the area was cleaned and ready for the next step, to get power to the fan. Oh my that meant emptying out a cupboard and running wire from a light switch to the ceiling. Fishing the wire up through the wall not knowing what you would find in the way proved to be challenging. But the ever persistent Mark got it done. And he got it done without “sparking” too much tension between himself and the ceiling. Although several areas were tried before finding the spot that would allow the wire to pass through.

Once the wiring was done the fan could then be permanently attached to the roof of the RV, That being done it was time to test out the fan and see how it ran. Wow, it really moved some air  pulling fresh air into the rv and removing the warm air from inside. On hot summer days or days when some smelly foods such as fish, or shrimp prepared the air can be removed quickly.

Oh dear, the next morning Mark noticed that the lid was  crocked and not closing properly. So that meant back up on the roof and remove the mounted fan. Mark found that the cover brackets had inadvertently gotten bent, which is why it wasn’t closing properly. So he had to fix that before remounting the fan. Twisting and bending proved to be easier said than done but the repair was successful and the fan was once again put in place.

The next few days were warmer than the days Mark installed the fan, so it was a very welcomed addition to our home. The new vent fan kept air moving, making the heat inside more tolerable. Which was great for me especially, since I had come down with a bad cold and was stuck inside. The fan also has a remote making it possible to turn it on without having to stand on a stool to do so. 

Once again Mark succeeded at making our home a nicer place to be. And as Mark would say, it’s always an adventure.

What a nice surprise

Wow what a great way to end the month of January. Friends from home are spending the winter in Phoenix and they came down here for a nice two day visit. They came from Phoenix to Quartzite where the the four of us met. We got to see the huge RV show there. We chatted endlessly and saw so many new campers, gadgets and thing a ma bobs that we were exhausted after several hours. They followed us back to Yuma where we had a nice supper together at AppleBee’s and chatted more. After tummies were filled and yawns began they headed to their motel room and us to our home. The next morning they stopped here and we loaded up and headed to our favorite place to eat, The Foothills Eatery. While our food settled we drove around to see how the other half lives and to show them around a bit. hehehe

Saying good bye was sad but we know we will meet up again somewhere down the line. But we had a wonderful time. How nice for them to come to Yuma to see us and spend time with us. It meant a lot to the both of us. Thank you Larry and Joan.